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Scared of Sharpening?

I am NOT scared of sharpening my first Japanese knives. But I do want some moral support. I've tried sharpening 3 times in the past, and never made it to the end completely (my patience ran out, or didn't set aside enough time). The total time spent on sharpening is probably less than 30 minutes.

I'm planning to do some sharpening sometime this week....

Is there anyone who has never tired sharpening before? I need a good, strong moral support here!

I am NOT scared of sharpening my first Japanese knives. But I do want some moral support. I've tried sharpening 3 times in the past, and never made it to the end completely (my patience ran out, or didn't set aside enough time). The total time spent on sharpening is probably less than 30 minutes.

I'm planning to do some sharpening sometime this week....

Is there anyone who has never tired sharpening before? I need a good, strong moral support here!

my first japanese knives were tosagata .. inexpensive but still blue and white steel. i practiced on them for a year and then took daves course before i bought my first $$$ knife. your problem as i see it is ... you dont have much in the way of inexpensive knives ... however you have a solution [roll over in bed and look at it ] pick a knife .. do your best and if you screw it up Jon will fix it.. with out complaint or the rest of us will have at him . like learning to drive a stick shift car ,,,, often a non relative is the best teacher... i took me a year .. good luck .. my annual meeting is in LA this year ,, not sure how far the venue is from you but i am hoping to visit your store .

First time I sharpened freehand with stones I was a bit daunted as I'd only done woodwork tools before, but knowing what sharp is really helped. First time I sharpened a woodwork tool I used a jig, so I guess I didn't really have that sharpening epiphany. The fact that I could make a piece of steel in my shed shave hardwood but my kitchen knives struggled with food was what made me first look into decent knives.
You can do it, you have resources available that most of us would dream of when we started out. Plus if you screw it up you have someone who can fix it for you, a rare and valuable safety net
Good luck

So there's these good videos available on sharpening....I forget the website but they're based in Cali. Affiliated with some kind of knife society too. The guys name is Joe, or Jeb....or something with a J......I'll bet someone here could help you find them.....